these sessions, the rest of the album was recorded at the Power Station and Blue Rock Studios in New York City. Studio engineer John Rollo said of these initial sessions, "The album before Low Budget, [Misfits] was beautifully recorded, but not that rock and roll. I think the first two songs I did, ["(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman" and "Low Budget"] went extremely well and the band wanted to spend some time in New York, to get away from distractions and kept it as a raw band recording." Recording in New York began in April 1979. After recently hiring and firing several keyboard players in quick succession, Ray Davies decided to play all of the keyboard parts for the tracks himself. Along with the tracks that appeared in the final running order of Low Budget, versions of songs that would appear on the album's 1981 follow-up Give the People What They Want, such as "Destroyer" and "Give the People What They Want" (and possibly "Yo-Yo" and "Better Things") are attempted. Also tried during the sessions were "Massive Reductions" (the B-side in the UK of "Better Things"), which was later re-recorded for the band's 1984 album Word of Mouth, and outtakes "Hidden Qualities" and "Laugh at the World". Final mixes and the running order for the album were worked on during June of that year. Music and lyrics After a decade of concept albums and songs that recalled simpler times, Low Budget marked a new direction for the Kinks by addressing contemporary issues such as inflation, labour disputes (which were especially severe in the UK during the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent), and the 1979 energy crisis. Songs such as "Catch Me Now I'm Falling", which was Davies' take on America's declining influence in the world, "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman", "Low Budget", and "A Gallon of Gas", epitomised these themes. Mick Avory said of the album's lyrics, "Ray's writing was [previously] too subtle. When we did the big arenas in the late seventies he was writing harder stuff that would come across. When we signed with Arista, Clive Davis would always talk about getting us into the bigger venues and the music changed so we could get them across in the large places. When we made Low Budget, that was a turning point really." Release and reception Prior to the release of Low Budget, "(Wish I Could Fly Like)